Tag Archives: N

Some years ago, when we (Cosima & Dimi) visited a live performance of Dirk Serries Microphonics, he asked us, if we ever will marry and we answered, that if we do, Dirk had to play a wedding concert for us. Back then, it was just a running joke. Well, finally we ended up with a wedding band consisting of our three favorite artists Dirk Serries, N and Aidan Baker.

“Enomeni” (which is greek and means “connected”) is a document of a very special live performance. Aidan Baker, N and Dirk Serries came together for the first time to play an improvised live session. The result is an one hour session, divided into four tracks, which show up an impressively increasing soundjourney with accentuating moments, ending up in a massive drone with squeaking and buzzing guitars.

The set starts very cautious and you can hear how the three musicians are coming together to build up an epic track, in which they find their perfect roles. Aidan Baker takes over the rhythm section by looping some sweeping sounds, N builds up a valley of ambient and drone sounds with hills, mountains and endless horizons and Dirk Serries rounds up everything by accompanying both or bringing in some accents like bowed guitar sounds. Like mentioned before everything ends up in an encore which also could bring you in mind, that they were joined by members of Sunn o))) or Earth for a big drone finale.

The set was mastered for vinyl by Fear Falls Burning (Dirk Serries), being divided into four tracks, each one hosted on one 12inch side. The artwork is made by N, using photos by Cosima made in Greece during the church wedding vacations.

The record comes as a double vinyl in an edition of 250 copies, housed in a gatefold sleeve, printed inside out with an incredible hand feel. We have 150 copies on black vinyl and a limited edition of 100 coloured copies.

The limited edition copies are printed colour in colour, bringing you an amazing scene like an island surrounded by fog from the bird’s eye view. Not to mention, that every single copy has it´s own colour gradient.

After their two unnamed full length albums known under the moniker of „dead rabbit“ and „dead squirrel” N + [ B O L T ] now return with their new unnamed Lathe Cut / CD EP which we lovingly call “dead mouse”.

The record contains one track by N on side A and one by [ B O L T ] on side B. So, is it a split? Well, YES if you just listen to the lathe cut tracks and NO if you look at the whole concept:

N + [ B O L T ] recorded two blackmetallish drone tracks with the same length, intended to be played simultaneously. To experience the maximum listening pleasure, you have to listen to the lathe cut and to the CD at once and at this point it´s not a split but a surround sound collaboration.

For those of you, who do not have the chance to listen to both tracks simultaneously, we added a mix of both tracks as a bonus track on the CD. But trust us, it´s not the same experience.

You can stream the mixed version right here:

And just to share our experience with this record, here are nine different ways to listen to it:

N “5.23” 33rpm lathe version

[ B O L T ] “5.23” 33rpm lathe version

N “5.23” 45rpm lathe version

[ B O L T ] “5.23” 45rpm lathe version

N “5.23” CD version

[ B O L T ] CD version

N + [ B O L T ] CD version

N + [ B O L T ] CD version + N lathe version

N + [ B O L T ] CD version + [ B O L T ] lathe version

There is no hint on the lathe cut about side A/B or 33/45 rpm. Experience it for yourself.

The record comes as a wonderful all ultra clear (no labels) 7inch lathe cut, limited to 30 copies, cutted by Peter King (NZ), housed in a heavy sleeve made of 400g chromoduplex grey/white cardboard, printed inside out and handfolded by the band. Additional to this, the package contains a full colour printed CD-R with the tracks in a different mastered version plus a mix of both tracks as a bonus track.

Please note: Lathe cuts do not have the same sound like vinyl records and need to be cleaned carefully to get the best sound results. We cannot give you a guarantee that you will not hear any scratching noises. But that´s the fascinating thing about records made by cutting the music into a piece of plastic. Anyway, we love the sound of N + [ B O L T ] via a lathe cut record and the result sounds amazing.

N + [ B O L T ] are returning with a second collaboration album. The sophomore untitled album (the only difference is the ongoing N release number) will be released in September 2015 and features four new epic tracks.

The trio consisting of one guitar+effects (N) and two bass-guitars+effects ([ B O L T ]) started playing together in 2013 and all looked like a one time happening, but the three musicians became friends in musical and personal ways. They inspired each other and recorded some great tunes. Back from their second recording session (which happened in 2013/2014), you can hear how their sound swells and grows into something very special that does work completely different compared to there solo releases. It is the perfect walk between tame ambient sounds and usurping doom walls. And inbetween there is so much more to listen. This time they will surprise you with some dark jazz and electronic tunes, for example.

The artwork follows up to the aesthetics of death, like it started with the first record. This time you will figure out a different animal, but we don´t want to spoil you. Make your own sleeve/artwork experience.

Tracklist
(no surprise, we do not have real track names, just the track lengths):

Well, we had to figure out, how we can offer you this great music. The only adequate way was to press the four tracks on a double vinyl release, housed in a gatefold sleeve. The music comes on ultra transparent 12inch vinyl and the sleeves are made of very thick and raw-textured grey cardboard. The artwork is printed without any digital hands on it. Pure oldschool offset print.

The album also includes a download card for the digital version, plus three bonus tracks. Last time we asked some artists to make a remix, this time the three bandmembers made a remix of their own tracks. The results are very astonishing.

Autumn is right in front of the door, it´s getting colder and the colours of trees are changing… Time for some warm experimental sounds.

Our new release MD 011 is a joint venture between N and[ B O L T ]. N known for his massive drones, made out of on/off guitar effects and [ B O L T ] famous for their raw doom-drones, played on two bass guitars, crossed their ways while playing and meeting at the same venues across germany. We are very glad, that they decided to meet at a recording studio to play together, just to find out if their sounds would fit together. The results are impressive.

The collaboration N (30) + [ B O L T ] does not just sound like N with [ B O L T ], it is a substantial progress of sounds for both acts. They recorded three tracks that show different aspects of their sounds in a new way. The first track is a slowly swelling biest of drones and noises, the second track is a catchy experimental epos and the last track is a little melancholic surprise.

You can listen to “16.33”, the second track, right here:

N (30) + [ B O L T ] will be released on black vinyl with very raw & thick cardboard covers in a limited edition of 100 pieces. The album also includes a download code with some great remixes of the album tracks.

Captured live in a church (Christuskirche Bochum in Germany), where both artists played a stunning experimental evening.

The canadian drone-doom-duo Nadja played a set that ended up with a special version of “The Bungled & The Botched” (originally released by Consouling Sounds) and the german artist N presented a set that included tracks like “Prora Stadt” from his sold out album “Prora” (Droehnhaus) and “Baukum”, an unreleased song that was played once at this show. The sound is not only amplified by the backline, but also by the sound quality of the church itself. You can feel the bass of Leah Buckareff crawling through the ground of the church, while Aidan Bakers guitar is slowly growing from the background to build up a big noisy soundwall. N is just using his guitar and two cases full of pedals and sound effects. His distorted sounds spread like a churchorgan and you can feel waves of sounds crossing through the church hall.

To commemorate this evening in this special venue, we pressed three songs on 12inch vinyl. With this we want to support the importance of special live shows and special sound recording formats. Both things are fundamental to support this kind of music.

“Vomos” is limited to 100 copies on black vinyl (black sleeves & black labels) with handmade silk screen printed covers (40 black prints / 60 white prints). Every copy is handnumbered and comes with an insert including pictures of the show and credits. Every vinyl comes with a downloadcode for the whole album including a remix of “Baukum” by Nadja.